Famadihana

The famadihana is a funerary habit which one meets among the Merina and the Betsileo of Madagascar. Although appeared rather tardily it in the island seems (perhaps only after the XVIIe century), at least under its current form, the famadihana is located in the prolongation of the old habit of “double the very widespread funeral” before the modern time in Southeast Asia. This habit rests on the belief which the manes of late definitively join the world of the ancestors only after the complete corruption of the body, at the end of one long period being able to last of the years, and after the achievement of suitable ceremonies. In Madagascar however, this reinterment (literally reversal ) ends up becoming periodic, in general every seven years, in a great festivity bringing together all the members of the group. On this occasion, the silk shrouds recovering the broken up funeral remainders several bodies are renewed.

Nowadays, the practice of the famadihana tends to rarefy, because of a share of the often high cost of the ceremony, and other of the impact of the Western influence, by the intermediary in particular of Christian sectarianism (because a long time, people had not felt any contradiction between this habit and the Christian principles!) who gains ground with the favor of impoverishment.

Random links: